Commercially available electrostatic copying machines or copiers, generally include processing apparatus for forming and developing an electrostatic latent image on a moving photoreceptor and thereafter transferring the developed image from the photoreceptor to a copy sheet made of a suitable material such as paper. Thus the copiers are provided with copy sheet handling apparatus suitable for storing copy sheets, feeding the copy sheets to the processing apparatus and collecting the processed copy sheets.
The storing apparatus typically includes a shallow receptacle, or supply tray, which is periodically replenished with a stack of copy sheets. To facilitate replenishing the supply tray, it is well known in the art to slidably mount the same for movement between two positions, one of which is a copy sheet loading position and the other of which is a copy sheet feeding position. To avoid having the stacked sheets becoming misaligned with each other or spilling over the forward end of the supply tray to become entangled with the sheet processing apparatus, such copiers are ordinarily provided with a pair of spaced, upright corner posts, vertically slidably secured to the frame, for aligning the front end of the copy sheet stack. Each of the posts usually includes a finger portion extending therefrom to overhang a corner of the stack of copy sheets and restrain feeding sheets from the stack. When the supply of sheets is depleted, the posts have slidably moved downwardly a sufficient distance to seat the finger portions thereof on the forward end of the tray. To replenish the supply of copy sheets it is therefore necessary to raise the posts, and thus finger portions thereof, upwardly to permit alignment of the end edges of the new stack of copy sheets against the posts. Thus the posts are manually raised a sufficient distance to elevate the finger portions high enough above the tray to be able to locate the topmost sheet of the new stack of copy sheets beneath the overhanging finger portions; and after the new stack is loaded, the posts are lowered to seat the finger portions of the same on top of the new stack of sheets.
In such copiers, the likelihood of misalignment of the supply sheets at the storage station is only partially eliminated. Although the posts are intended to act as forward edge aligning devices, they do so only so long as the supply tray is not too forcefully moved to the storage station. The sheet loading process contemplates that the operator remember that he must manually raise the posts before returning the loaded tray to the storage station; and, as he does so, to slowly slide the tray forwardly and against the posts to avoid misalignment of the sheets; and to then carefully lower the posts to seat the finger portions of the same in engagement with the topmost sheet of the stack. Unfortunately, experience has shown that copier operators are often baffled by this procedure, since the posts are spaced about 81/2 inches apart from each other; i.e., a distance which is sufficiently great to be a problem insofar as elevating the posts with one hand is concerned. Many operators respond to the challenge of loading a new stack of copy sheets by employing such creative sheet loading techniques as (a) super-elevating the posts above the level of the tray with both hands; quickly letting go of the posts; and, as the posts are falling, rapidly sliding the newly loaded tray against them before the finger portions fall to the level of the topmost sheet; or (b) jamming the posts in an elevated position, with whatever means comes most easily to hand; and then leisurely sliding the newly loaded tray against the immobilized posts. In either instance, there is a high probability of damaging the posts or tray, or both, as a result of which the copier cannot be used until it is repaired. Accordingly:
An object of the present invention is to provide, in a copier of the type which includes means for processing a plurality of copy sheets, improved apparatus for handling the copy sheets;
Another object is to provide a copier including improved means for loading a supply of copy sheets in the copier; and
Yet another object is to provide means, in a copier, for accessing the copy sheet supply tray in a prescribed manner to avoid the problems of the prior art hereinbefore discussed.